MENUby Matthew Rosenberg & Patrick Kindlon, is the story of a boy and a dog wandering the wastelands of a future America as they try to keep each other alive in a world running out of food. Chapter Seventeen: Dinner in Altoona is drawn by Shaky Kane.

MENU: Born from the shared loss of the creators’ dogs, MENU follows a human and canine duo as they navigate the wastelands of a post-civilization America. Self-contained short stories, told non-chronologically, form a larger narrative about friendship and survival.

Written by Ashcan Presscollaborators, Patrick Kindlon & Matthew Rosenberg, and illustrated by the best talent in indie comics, MENU is an opportunity to tell any type of story that fits the characters and setting. Some will be dark, others cheery, and some gross.

Pulling liberally from classic post-apocalyptic literature and buddy films, all of the series’ influences are on display. MENU is a tribute to both the memory of the dogs that inspired it and to the escapist media that got the authors through their loss. “Neither of our dogs were capable of reading so far as we know,” says series co-creator Kindlon, “but this is still for them.”

Prepare yourself for camaraderie and cannibalism as Trip City brings you tales from the atomized society every month!

MENUby Matthew Rosenberg & Patrick Kindlon, is the story of a boy and a dog wandering the wastelands of a future America as they try to keep each other alive in a world running out of food. Chapter Sixteen: Very Little Has Changed is drawn by Daniel Elisii.

MENU: Born from the shared loss of the creators’ dogs, MENU follows a human and canine duo as they navigate the wastelands of a post-civilization America. Self-contained short stories, told non-chronologically, form a larger narrative about friendship and survival.

Written by Ashcan Presscollaborators, Patrick Kindlon & Matthew Rosenberg, and illustrated by the best talent in indie comics, MENU is an opportunity to tell any type of story that fits the characters and setting. Some will be dark, others cheery, and some gross.

Pulling liberally from classic post-apocalyptic literature and buddy films, all of the series’ influences are on display. MENU is a tribute to both the memory of the dogs that inspired it and to the escapist media that got the authors through their loss. “Neither of our dogs were capable of reading so far as we know,” says series co-creator Kindlon, “but this is still for them.”

Prepare yourself for camaraderie and cannibalism as Trip City brings you tales from the atomized society every month!

Thomas Alsop, The Hand of the Island, celebrity, and occult investigator who’s family has been charged with the task of protecting Manhattan from supernatural threats for the last three hundred years. He’s also the host of the popular cable TV show, Thomas Alsop – Supernatural Detective.

Palle Schmidt is a Danish writer/artist. Palle is the artist behind Thomas Alsop, bringing his European sensibilities to a quintessentially American story. He’s the creator of the crime noir graphic novel, The Devils Concubine published by IDW, and his upcoming book, Stiletto. He specializes in hardboiled crime noir. To see more of Palle’s work visit his website and / or check out his comics tutorials on ComicsForBeginners.

Thomas Alsopis the current Hand of the Island. A title that’s been passed down through generations of the Alsop family ever since Richard Alsop was cursed in 1699 by an Indian Shaman, charging him as the supernatural protector for all of New York. Ever since that day members of the Alsop family have battled against the forces of darkness in the service of the Island. However, Thomas Alsop might be the most eccentric of them all. A few years ago his buddy, Marcus Rogers filmed him fighting a supernatural disturbance. Soon after, Marcus put the video on YouTube where it went viral. One month later, Thomas was offered a reality ghost hunter show, Thomas Alsop – Supernatural Detective. Now, Thomas is a national sensation, busting ghosts for your viewing pleasure, and for the safety of your souls!

In the first arc, “The 3000″ Thomas and Richard Alsop both investigate the same case three hundred years apart, while Thomas uncovers an unbelivable horror in downtown Manhattan…

Call your local comic shop to reserve or pre-order your copy of Thomas Alsop by BOOM! Studios on sale everywhere on June 18th, 2014.

MENUby Matthew Rosenberg & Patrick Kindlon, is the story of a boy and a dog wandering the wastelands of a future America as they try to keep each other alive in a world running out of food. Chapter Fifteen: Baffled in Bakersfield is drawn by Luis Echavarria.

MENU: Born from the shared loss of the creators’ dogs, MENU follows a human and canine duo as they navigate the wastelands of a post-civilization America. Self-contained short stories, told non-chronologically, form a larger narrative about friendship and survival.

Written by Ashcan Presscollaborators, Patrick Kindlon & Matthew Rosenberg, and illustrated by the best talent in indie comics, MENU is an opportunity to tell any type of story that fits the characters and setting. Some will be dark, others cheery, and some gross.

Pulling liberally from classic post-apocalyptic literature and buddy films, all of the series’ influences are on display. MENU is a tribute to both the memory of the dogs that inspired it and to the escapist media that got the authors through their loss. “Neither of our dogs were capable of reading so far as we know,” says series co-creator Kindlon, “but this is still for them.”

Prepare yourself for camaraderie and cannibalism as Trip City brings you tales from the atomized society every month!

Consider this two exclusives in one! I rarely release demos, and this comic-book-lyric-sheet is poised to become a comic-book-music-video for a much more polished version of the song. This whole thing is a demo, in a way.

More and better to come on Where Giants Walk, the next album from AM/UK, probably out in early 2014. If you notice discrepancies between the song lyrics and the comix lyrics, know that the the comix are correct.

]]>http://welcometotripcity.com/2014/04/the-titans-of-tyranny/feed/20:03:33
Read the comic while you listen to the demo version of the song.
Consider this two exclusives in one! I rarely release demos, and this comic-book-lyric-sheet is poised to become a comic-book-music-video for a much more polished version of the[...]
Read the comic while you listen to the demo version of the song.
Consider this two exclusives in one! I rarely release demos, and this comic-book-lyric-sheet is poised to become a comic-book-music-video for a much more polished version of the song. This whole thing is a demo, in a way.
TITANS OF TYRANNY. Song by Americans UK. Lyrics by Jef UK. Art by John Mathias. Story by Jef and Flagday.
More and better to come on Where Giants Walk, the next album from AM/UK, probably out in early 2014. If you notice discrepancies between the song lyrics and the comix lyrics, know that the the comix are correct.
More comic-book-lyric-sheets and comix videos:
JOHN LOVES WAYNE comic-book-lyric-sheet.
ZOMBIES ATTACK!!! comic-book-lyric-sheet.
ZOMBIES ATTACK!!! comix video.
TIME BUM song n comix.
I APE-MAN comic-book-lyric-sheet.
SONS OF BA’AL comic-book-lyric-sheet.
SONS OF BA’AL comix video
ROCKTRONIC comix
ROCKTRONIC album
All things AMERICANS UK
One if by land,
Two if by sea,
Three if by rock.
Three,
Jef UK
Blog, Comix, SoundsTrip CitynonoLights Out In Zap Cityhttp://welcometotripcity.com/2014/04/lights-out-in-zap-city/
http://welcometotripcity.com/2014/04/lights-out-in-zap-city/#commentsWed, 16 Apr 2014 11:41:23 +0000Jef UKhttp://welcometotripcity.com/?p=19396

Sci-fi rock band Americans UK battle a swarm of futuristic drones in the rock-dance hit of 2014!! Produced in bedrooms throughout Brooklyn, “Lights Out In Zap City” is a testament to the modern ability of DIY projects, and good use of consumer technology to create professional music and videos at home.

Brooklyn-based band Americans UK have positioned themselves in the New York City music scene as a science fiction, rock band, publishing comic books about the band’s fantastic exploits, and creating comic book music videos and lyrics sheets to go along with their post-punk-apocalyptic song output. “Lights Out In Zap City” is the first single from their forthcoming album Where Giants Walk.

With a strong presence in the world of graphic novels, Americans UK wanted a high end video to bridge the gap between their comic book, fantasy world and reality–similar to what studios like Marvel have accomplished in recent years.

Darin Murano, photographer and filmmaker, lives in Brooklyn, NY. While performing as a drummer in several rock bands, he earned a BFA in photography and printmaking from The University of Texas at Austin. With a love of music and the captured image, it is no surprise that his filmmaking has centered around music videos. Darin has worked in digital media his entire career, which has honed his skills in 3D and compositing.

Meet Tommy(Zachariah Durr) the newest hire at an office where everything is slightly off. Tommy finds himself constantly taunted by his cubical mate, Ted(Chris Miskiewicz) while having to endure uncomfortable and awkward conversations with his Boss(Paul Coughlan) and the rest of the staff.

MENUby Matthew Rosenberg & Patrick Kindlon, is the story of a boy and a dog wandering the wastelands of a future America as they try to keep each other alive in a world running out of food. Chapter Fourteen: Panic in Providence is drawn by Werther Dell’Edera.

MENU: Born from the shared loss of the creators’ dogs, MENU follows a human and canine duo as they navigate the wastelands of a post-civilization America. Self-contained short stories, told non-chronologically, form a larger narrative about friendship and survival.

Written by Ashcan Presscollaborators, Patrick Kindlon & Matthew Rosenberg, and illustrated by the best talent in indie comics, MENU is an opportunity to tell any type of story that fits the characters and setting. Some will be dark, others cheery, and some gross.

Pulling liberally from classic post-apocalyptic literature and buddy films, all of the series’ influences are on display. MENU is a tribute to both the memory of the dogs that inspired it and to the escapist media that got the authors through their loss. “Neither of our dogs were capable of reading so far as we know,” says series co-creator Kindlon, “but this is still for them.”

Prepare yourself for camaraderie and cannibalism as Trip City brings you tales from the atomized society every month!

Read the comic while you listen to the tune, so as to fully experience the post-punk-apocalyptic might that is, “I, Ape-Man.” Then come back here for a minute, I’ve got a couple of things I want to tell you.

I, APE-MAN came into being as a song in the long long ago, in a far away land known as Austin, TX. I brought the lyrics, melody, and that octave key part to my pal Craig Montoro, and we wrote the song together. Subsequently, we performed it for years in Americans UK. Hell, it’s only been fairly recently that it stopped making the set list.

So the comic you read above was conceived years after the song was published, and my first attempt at a “comic-book music-video.” As such, it stars mutated versions of the comic-book version of the band: Jef UK, JTR3, Keith Scavenge and Paul A-Hole.

I don’t know how to continue without first telling you how much I love the artwork of my pal ZEES. I am a true fan of his stuff, and he has an utterly unique artistic voice. What’s great about writing for ZEES is that he brings so much more to the table than just illustration skills. He adds incredible amounts of depth and complexity to each character, each panel, and each page that he draws. He adds story.

Here in “I, Ape-Man,” that whole bit with Ape-Man watching as the JTR3-spider-bot eats the antagonist, as well as the damsel in distress– that was all ZEES. I remember getting that page back for the first time and being surprised that the damsel died at the end, and it was my story! I fucking love it.

I didn’t have an exact sense of how long I wanted this. I just wanted ZEES to go crazy, so I only wrote a plot, with the intention of adding the lyrics over the appropriate images after the fact. Americans-UK-Marvel-Style, I guess. But the narrative is so strong in the comic that I thought the lyrics became a distraction, so we cut them.

“I’m very old fashioned for a bisexual polyamorous girl,” she said as I lit a cigarette, which was an odd thing to do since I don’t smoke.

“Well that’s very interesting, but I’m afraid that we’re out of time. I have another appointment down the block at three.”

Her smile dropped some of its intensity, which tends to happen with forty percent of the women that I interviewed. It’s something about having an unbiased person listening to them for a bit who then has to go. But, I feel that no one really listens to anyone. Only to parts, pauses, and breaks in another’s lines while waiting for their turn to speak. Sometimes listening is the best gift you can give in such a lonely world.

“Oh! It was nice meeting with you.”

“It was,” I said, turning off my recorder and immediately standing. I put on my coat watching her eyes shift.

“If you’d ever like to…”

I raised my hand, palm open.

“Thank you, but I’m only here to record your story. Have a good day.”

I turned and left.

I met my three o’clock in a café in the East Village. I always prefer to conduct my interviews in public and absolutely never at my subject’s home. He arrived a few minutes late, which was fine because it gave me a moment to check my equipment.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said as he entered, automatically taking off his coat and beginning to go into his excuse.

“It’s fine. I don’t need to know,” I replied, never looking up from the sugar I was spooning into my coffee, which was strange because I don’t like sugar.

“I’ll restate the rules. I don’t need to know your name and you don’t need to know mine. The Service sent me to collect your story. That’s all this is. I’m only concerned with the quality of story that you have to tell, and getting as many facts from you as you’re willing to give. They’ll determine the rest.”

“I understand,” he said.

“Good.” I pressed record and took a sip of coffee. It was far too sweet. “Go ahead.”

He sat up straight and inhaled.

“I’ve worked for a secret science division inside of the United States Government for the last ten years…”

He paused while nervously looking over his shoulders. Only the barista and a sensitive unemployable writer were in the café with us. He turned back and began again with a lower voice.

“We were charged with conducting studies into the human soul. We were looking into weight, density, and electrical changes inside of a persons brain to find the soul,”

He nodded staring at his open palms. Then he looked at me with a slight smile.

“We found it.”

“You found the soul?”

“We isolated where it is and how it works within the energy spectrum it resides in. It’s crazy science, but it holds up. However, we also found anomalies.”

“Anomalies?”

“Yes. Things like…Splitting,” he let out a nervous laugh while looking around the room again. “See, half of the population has more than one soul within them…while the other half is suffering from only having half of their soul, or a quarter, and some people have even less. We call that Splitting. It’s when a person only has a fragment of the size of what their soul should be.”

I nodded, mostly to egg him on.

“Go on. We have plenty of time.”

“I came up with the theory when I was younger after a one night stand I had in college with a fortune-teller. We were in the middle of it when suddenly she grabbed the sides of my head and said, “How many of you are in there?”

“Her words haunted me and I got to thinking. Could a person have multiple souls? Not personalities, because that’s been proven. But, what if those personalities were actually conflicting souls? A lighter and a darker soul with one suppressed.

He took a sip of water and eyed me suspiciously.

“You don’t believe me.”

“It’s inconsequential whether I do or don’t believe you. I’m only here as a middleman between you and the Service,” I said.

He reached into his jacket and pulled out a thick folder that read; Studies Into Multiple Souls – The United States Government.

“Here, take a look. It’s all there. Read along as I speak,” he said.

I began to flip through dozens of pages, each one brimming with infrared photographs on multiple subjects showing different colors around their brains.

“As you can see by the different color spectrums, there are different energy patterns of souls inside of certain people. Flip to page thirty to see examples of Splitting.”

I did, and came to a series of pages of people who barely had any infrared coloring at all.

“Why do these people have barely a spark while the others look like a lightning storm?” I asked the subject.

He took in a long sigh.

“We don’t know why, but for some reason a good amount of people have experienced a splitting of their soul. They are intelligent functional people with no physical differences than the rest, except that they’re not whole. I think that it has to do with reincarnation. Somehow the energy splits and moves into different children at conception. We don’t know why. I’ve taken some solace in the idea that these people are searching for each other…trying to become whole again. Looking for their matches.”

I grinned.

“Soul mates?”

He gave an honest smile.

“Yes. Something just like that.”

I flipped back to brighter pictures.

“And these?”

“We’re not sure why some people have multiple souls, but it’s confirmed that they do. The government then wanted my division to come up with a way to access these second souls. It took four years of further testing, but in the end we came up with a drug called THX that could suppress the primary soul to allow the secondary one to come forward. This is the main reason I’m breaking my silence and coming to you today. I need to get in touch with the higher news services and let the population know what’s happening to them.”

He pulled himself forward.

“I have proof that the government has been putting THX into food, water systems, and pharmaceutical drugs for the last few years. It was a program that started during the Bush Administration in places like Florida and other states where they wanted to swing the vote.”

I sat back and chuckled.

“I’m sorry, but this is conspiracy theorist nonsense.”

“Absolutely, but it’s not nonsense. Haven’t you felt it yourself? The way the country has changed in the last decade? The way sensible decisions don’t seem to ever be made any longer? The way that old friends act like strangers while knowing all they’ve ever known about you, yet they’re different. They experience huge mood swings, while others are using different patterns than they normally would. These things are all the effect of THX in their systems.”

“I’ve been running studies on my own where I’ve found THX in condiments, water bottles, ADHD drugs. By this point it’s almost impossible that you haven’t ingested THX in some form.”

“And why would anyone want to do this?” I asked him.

His eyes went hollow.

“I believe that high ranking government officials have been infected with THX leaving their other souls in control. I believe that these souls are trying to stay here while bringing others into their cause.”

We sat in silence for a moment while I absently flipped through the folder.

“Which you am I speaking with here?” I asked. “How do you know you’re you and not your shadow?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” he replied. “Excuse me for a moment. I need to use the rest room.”

He stood up and walked to the back of the café while I pressed pause on the recorder. I went into my pocket and fished for my cell speed dialing the first number on my list.

“Go,” the voice on the other end went.

“I’ve found him. Send an extraction team to my current location. I’ll keep him here a bit longer.”

“Team-7 will be there in five minutes,” the voice replied.

“Understood.”

I hung up and fished in my pocket again pulling out a pill bottle. I traced my thumb over the three printed letters on the label, popped it open and took one of the bright red pills. Then I washed it down with the end of my sugared down coffee. Like I said, I hate sugar, but that’s the way he likes it.

I looked up. The barista and the unemployed writer were both staring at me with that familiar look. They both nodded with knowing grins.

A moment later my subject came out of the rest room still drying his hands. I glanced at my watch. Four minutes to go.

–Chris Miskiewicz

–Photo by Seth Kushner

]]>http://welcometotripcity.com/2014/03/which-you/feed/60:09:24
“I’m very old fashioned for a bisexual polyamorous girl,” she said as I lit a cigarette, which was an odd thing to do since I don’t smoke.
“Well that’s very interesting, but I’m afraid that we’re out of time. I have another appointment down t[...]
“I’m very old fashioned for a bisexual polyamorous girl,” she said as I lit a cigarette, which was an odd thing to do since I don’t smoke.
“Well that’s very interesting, but I’m afraid that we’re out of time. I have another appointment down the block at three.”
Her smile dropped some of its intensity, which tends to happen with forty percent of the women that I interviewed. It’s something about having an unbiased person listening to them for a bit who then has to go. But, I feel that no one really listens to anyone. Only to parts, pauses, and breaks in another’s lines while waiting for their turn to speak. Sometimes listening is the best gift you can give in such a lonely world.
“Oh! It was nice meeting with you.”
“It was,” I said, turning off my recorder and immediately standing. I put on my coat watching her eyes shift.
“If you’d ever like to…”
I raised my hand, palm open.
“Thank you, but I’m only here to record your story. Have a good day.”
I turned and left.
I met my three o’clock in a café in the East Village. I always prefer to conduct my interviews in public and absolutely never at my subject’s home. He arrived a few minutes late, which was fine because it gave me a moment to check my equipment.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said as he entered, automatically taking off his coat and beginning to go into his excuse.
“It’s fine. I don’t need to know,” I replied, never looking up from the sugar I was spooning into my coffee, which was strange because I don’t like sugar.
“I’ll restate the rules. I don’t need to know your name and you don’t need to know mine. The Service sent me to collect your story. That’s all this is. I’m only concerned with the quality of story that you have to tell, and getting as many facts from you as you’re willing to give. They’ll determine the rest.”
“I understand,” he said.
“Good.” I pressed record and took a sip of coffee. It was far too sweet. “Go ahead.”
He sat up straight and inhaled.
“I’ve worked for a secret science division inside of the United States Government for the last ten years…”
He paused while nervously looking over his shoulders. Only the barista and a sensitive unemployable writer were in the café with us. He turned back and began again with a lower voice.
“We were charged with conducting studies into the human soul. We were looking into weight, density, and electrical changes inside of a persons brain to find the soul,”
He nodded staring at his open palms. Then he looked at me with a slight smile.
“We found it.”
“You found the soul?”
“We isolated where it is and how it works within the energy spectrum it resides in. It’s crazy science, but it holds up. However, we also found anomalies.”
“Anomalies?”
“Yes. Things like…Splitting,” he let out a nervous laugh while looking around the room again. “See, half of the population has more than one soul within them…while the other half is suffering from only having half of their soul, or a quarter, and some people have even less. We call that Splitting. It’s when a person only has a fragment of the size of what their soul should be.”
I nodded, mostly to egg him on.
“Go on. We have plenty of time.”
“I came up with the theory when I was younger after a one night stand I had in college with a fortune-teller. We were in the middle of it when suddenly she grabbed the sides of my head and said, “How many of you are in there?”
“Her words haunted me and I got to thinking. Could a person have multiple souls? Not personalities, because that’s been proven. But, what if those personalities were actually conflicting souls? A lighter and a darker soul with one suppressed.
He took a sip of water and eyed me suspiciously.
“You don’t believe me.”
“It’s inconsequential whether I do or don’t believe you. I’m only here as a middleman between you and the Service,” I said.
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a thick folder that read; Studies Into Multiple Souls – The United States Government.
“Here, take a look. It’s all there. Read along as I sp[...]Series, Signals, WordsTrip CitynonoAmericans UK headline The Rockshop on 3/14/14!http://welcometotripcity.com/2014/03/americans-uk-headline-the-rockshop-on-31414/
http://welcometotripcity.com/2014/03/americans-uk-headline-the-rockshop-on-31414/#commentsSat, 08 Mar 2014 17:19:09 +0000Jef UKhttp://welcometotripcity.com/?p=19367

Kevin Colden is the creator of the Xeric Grant-awarded and Eisner Award-nominee, graphic novel, Fishtown, published by IDW, and has most recently illustrated The Crow: Death and Rebirth, also published by IDW.

Lovers and Other Strangers #1 is an innovative new photo magazine from the mind of Justin Bacolo where the worlds of fact and fiction collide, featuring top notch output from some of NYC’s brightest up-and-comers. Filled to the brim with tantalizing creative stories inspired by found vintage photos, creating an alternate reality grounded in our existing universe. Enter the world of Lovers & Other Strangers, a realm for both the curious and the imaginative!

MENUby Matthew Rosenberg & Patrick Kindlon, is the story of a boy and a dog wandering the wastelands of a future America as they try to keep each other alive in a world running out of food. Chapter Thirteen: Darkness in Duluth is drawn by Jason Copland.

MENU: Born from the shared loss of the creators’ dogs, MENU follows a human and canine duo as they navigate the wastelands of a post-civilization America. Self-contained short stories, told non-chronologically, form a larger narrative about friendship and survival.

Written by Ashcan Presscollaborators, Patrick Kindlon & Matthew Rosenberg, and illustrated by the best talent in indie comics, MENU is an opportunity to tell any type of story that fits the characters and setting. Some will be dark, others cheery, and some gross.

Pulling liberally from classic post-apocalyptic literature and buddy films, all of the series’ influences are on display. MENU is a tribute to both the memory of the dogs that inspired it and to the escapist media that got the authors through their loss. “Neither of our dogs were capable of reading so far as we know,” says series co-creator Kindlon, “but this is still for them.”

Prepare yourself for camaraderie and cannibalism as Trip City brings you tales from the atomized society every month!

The rain beat down, the reverberating thuds sounded like bullets on the subway window. I saw multicolored pains of glass and graffiti telling me to “do more” when I suddenly realized I was in Brooklyn. I exited on the northwest corner of the street and hoped my way would reveal itself. A man in a faded purple sweater looked at me with a disconcerting glare. He slowly approached and offered his help. I thanked him and then headed to my destination.

He exited his house smoking a cigarette. I followed him next door to his studio. Once inside, I sat down on the couch and he at the computer. He searched for a song from his forthcoming album. Having already recorded demos with musicians Christopher Hoffman, Matt Kilmer, and Von Merrick, he hopes to put out the EP soon. This endeavor is a departure from Pagoda, a band with whom he’s played for several years. Trying to avoid the inevitability of being a solo artist, he reached the conclusion that it is not only difficult but also extremely expensive for musicians in New York City to keep a group together. Although he says he will continue to record with his former band members as long as they are willing, he realizes it’s time to go his own way.

A train passed on the nearby subway tracks and my eyes darted to the window to watch it go. I noticed his artwork, which was placed against the wall like an alter. Junk art, as he referred to it, is something he started as a child. He rose from his seat and said that his father, a former mechanic, would bring him to work and place him in the junkyard. Unaware of what he was doing, he would take car parts and put them together. Later on, he realized that he was creating art. Now, he uses a variety of materials including wood, photographs, and found objects, to construct his pieces.

Returning to his computer, he played one of his ‘video sketch pads’. Recorded on his iPhone, he taped himself creating artwork. Narrated by the sound of his guitar, these recordings show his process at an accelerated speed. Intended to illustrate his frustrations with how long things take and his interest in imperfections, he has created a collection of videos using his own music as their soundtracks.

Curious where his artistic priority levels lie, he says that creating, regardless of the medium, is what’s most important to him. With a fascination in renaissance people, he is interested in the artist that explores different means of expression. Living in Brooklyn for 16 years now, he finds that New York’s diverse culture has facilitated the development of his work. Although he does not consider himself a part of the varied communities that have overtaken parts of his neighborhood, he does, with some reservations, identify as an artist…

-Jessica Glick

Jessica Glick is a photographer, writer, and music lover. She developed an interest in photography while working at various Lower East Side music venues. Jessica started photographing local musician and has now expanded her work to include fine art and fashion. In addition to photography, Jessica has been writing since she was a child. Attempting to combine her writings with her photo work, she created an ongoing portrait/story series called VAGABOND.

“SCHMUCK has a heart underneath its gritty crude input from main character Adam Kessler’s friends, a belief that love will find you in the end.”– Hannah Means Shannon, The Beat

“While SCHMUCK is packed with humorous anecdotes I feel that the relate-ability of this book is the most powerful aspect of it.” – Justin Fah, Spandexless

“…Brutal and honest.” – Brett Schenker, Graphic Policy

George Jurard is a freelance cartoonist and illustrator based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
There is much debate as to where exactly he hails from. It has been insinuated that his childhood home may have been situated somewhere deep within a swamp. As he and his siblings spent all of their childhood confined to an unusually spacious and well-furnished room de-constructing and memorizing songs by both Hank III and Willie Hutch, he can’t confirm whether he grew up in said swamp or in Tangier, Morocco.
He recently finished serializing his web comic Beacon Lights on Trip City and you can read the completed episodes in sequential order on his website. He will be finishing the series sometime late in March. http://cargocollective.com/GeorgeJurard

Whenever Seth Kushner did anything foolish growing up, his mother would call him a “Schmuck,” that beloved Yiddish term of not-so-endearment. So, of course, it’s the title of his new comix semi-autobio on TRIP CITY. Renowned for his books The Brooklynites (with Anthony LaSala) and Leaping Tall Buildings: The Origins of American Comics (With Christopher Irving) and the webseries CulturePOP Photocomix, photographer and author Seth Kushner now throws his hat into the comics arena. SCHMUCK chronicles the period after his being dumped by a girlfriend, and the ensuing cascade of blind dates, Internet hook-ups, and comically tragic situations he endured with the hopes of finding “true love.”

SCHMUCK sheds a brutally honest light on 20-something relationships. Adam Kessler, our “hero,” is based on Kushner, ten years ago – a pop-culture-obsessed photographer torn between pleasing Mom by finding a “nice Jewish girl,” and figuring out what he really wants. His internal monologue is filled with the standard inane, perverted and self-deprecating thoughts we all have but are ashamed to admit. Meanwhile, his shit-talking, sex-obsessed Brooklyn boys stand by with their own, often wacky, advice.

Chapter One “Beer, Babes and Bowel Movements,” illustrated by Kevin Colden, (with “Photocomix” by Seth) debuted on Monday, January 9 2012. From there, a new chapters have appeared regularly on TripCity.net, alternating with the release of prose pieces titled, “THE SCHMUCK DIARIES,” which act as supplements to the comics.

MENUby Matthew Rosenberg & Patrick Kindlon, is the story of a boy and a dog wandering the wastelands of a future America as they try to keep each other alive in a world running out of food. Chapter Twelve: Pity in Pasadena (Part 2) is drawn by Jen Hickman.

MENU: Born from the shared loss of the creators’ dogs, MENU follows a human and canine duo as they navigate the wastelands of a post-civilization America. Self-contained short stories, told non-chronologically, form a larger narrative about friendship and survival.

Written by Ashcan Presscollaborators, Patrick Kindlon & Matthew Rosenberg, and illustrated by the best talent in indie comics, MENU is an opportunity to tell any type of story that fits the characters and setting. Some will be dark, others cheery, and some gross.

Pulling liberally from classic post-apocalyptic literature and buddy films, all of the series’ influences are on display. MENU is a tribute to both the memory of the dogs that inspired it and to the escapist media that got the authors through their loss. “Neither of our dogs were capable of reading so far as we know,” says series co-creator Kindlon, “but this is still for them.”

Prepare yourself for camaraderie and cannibalism as Trip City brings you tales from the atomized society every month!

Beacon Lights by Minneapolis cartoonist George Jurard, is a series of loosely inter-locking stories that take place over the course of 200 years.

Throughout our lives, we are perpetually in the act of pursuit. We are always seeking something in the distance— a beacon, a light, that calls us to action. But, each action has an opposite reaction, and as one person finds happiness, another can find despair.

Beacon Lights explores the spectrum of the human condition: the horrors we face, life’s joys, and the uncertainty that nags at us when the rug’s pulled out from under our feet. Throughout all of these things, we persist. Our beacons call to us.

Read the rest of George Jurard’s Beacon Lights as he illuminates man’s bold resilience.

NOTE: a different version of “The Future Needs You” first appeared at Studio YOLO.

Sherlock Holmes and Watson travel to William Shakespeare’s era to solve The Riddle of a Thousand Faces, but Professor Moriarty springs a clever ruse, breaking Sherlock’s “time cane,” causing a “temporal storm” that sends Sherlock and Moriarty to times unknown, and Shakespeare and Watson to the present in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Now, the unorthodox partners have formed a detective agency to fight crime while trying to figure out a way to get back to their own eras.

Episode Three: Sweets “Dr. John Watson heads out on a solo adventure while Shakespeare smokes crack at the Detective Agency.”

Episode Four: Who Will Save Us?“The diabolical Professor Moriarty returns from the year 2555 and captures Shakespeare & Watson! Now, bound and at his mercy, what will the detectives do?”

Episode Five: Cracky’s Pet “Captured, bound, and at the mercy of the Detectives of Mystery, Shakespeare decides to give the unconscious Professor Moriarty to Cracky for safe keeping.”

Episode Six: The Riddle of a Thousand Faces (Part Two)“Shakespeare and Watson are hot on a case of a serial killer who leaves Shakespearean quotes on his victims bodies. However, not all is as it seems when Shakespeare comes face to face with someone from his future...”

MENUby Matthew Rosenberg & Patrick Kindlon, is the story of a boy and a dog wandering the wastelands of a future America as they try to keep each other alive in a world running out of food. Chapter Eleven: Pity in Pasadena is drawn by Jen Hickman.

MENU: Born from the shared loss of the creators’ dogs, MENU follows a human and canine duo as they navigate the wastelands of a post-civilization America. Self-contained short stories, told non-chronologically, form a larger narrative about friendship and survival.

Written by Ashcan Presscollaborators, Patrick Kindlon & Matthew Rosenberg, and illustrated by the best talent in indie comics, MENU is an opportunity to tell any type of story that fits the characters and setting. Some will be dark, others cheery, and some gross.

Pulling liberally from classic post-apocalyptic literature and buddy films, all of the series’ influences are on display. MENU is a tribute to both the memory of the dogs that inspired it and to the escapist media that got the authors through their loss. “Neither of our dogs were capable of reading so far as we know,” says series co-creator Kindlon, “but this is still for them.”

Prepare yourself for camaraderie and cannibalism as Trip City brings you tales from the atomized society every month!

The howling wind swept the city’s debris into the air creating cyclones of leaves and garbage on the pathway to the garden. The ominous silver tint in the sky stayed behind me as I inched closer to my destination. I easily lost myself inside the tranquil Brooklyn hideaway as I waited for them.

I saw her running down the stairs with a guitar on her back. I tried to catch her, but she had already vanished. Moments later, I spotted her again behind a crowd of people. She made her way to me and we introduced ourselves. He arrived shortly after and the first thing I noticed were his cowboy boots. We headed back up the stairs she had come running down and she directed us toward some of her favorite spots.

It was easy to see the connection between the two of them (they would later discuss questions of gravity in outer space) so it is no wonder that they’ve managed to maintain Via Audio for over a decade. First meeting while attending Berklee College of Music in Boston, former band member and bassist David Lizmi introduced them. He had met David through local jam sessions and she through another former band member, Danny Molad, whom she had given her demo to while playing her guitar outside a Berklee hangout. As a quartette, they found success with their debut album Say Something. Their second record, Animalore, was produced by Spoon’s Jim Eno, which eventually led to the group opening for the esteemed band in Tokyo.

Now, as a duo, they are drawing on the evolution of Via Audio, and themselves as artists, to develop a new sound. With their forthcoming album, Natural Language, which will be released in early 2014, they want to create a different experience for their audience. Accompanying their more focused and mature work, they are collaborating with other creatives to incorporate fresh sets, stage outfits, and videos for their live shows.

Although their main focus is on finishing their new record, they are currently working on other artistic endeavors. He with Lazercake, a group he plays guitar in; as well as producing and engineering other bands in his home studio in Philly. She is busy with Modest Midas; a surf-lounge-bossa nova side project that she will soon be recording an EP for. She also collaborates with illustrator Derek Eads for their blog Assorted Hearts.

It was time for them to head to their rehearsal. We attempted to find our way out. Confused by the different pathways ahead of us, he took out a map and we followed him. Once we found the exit to the street, we parted ways. I noticed that the threatening sky had waited outside the gardens. Momentarily lost, a gust of wind pushed me in the right direction…

-Jessica Glick

Jessica Glick is a photographer, writer, and music lover. She developed an interest in photography while working at various Lower East Side music venues. Jessica started photographing local musician and has now expanded her work to include fine art and fashion. In addition to photography, Jessica has been writing since she was a child. Attempting to combine her writings with her photo work, she created an ongoing portrait/story series called VAGABOND.

Available now from MonkeyBrain Comics, Panels For Primates features work from comics giants such as Stan Lee, Roger Stern, and John Byrne, alongside modern masters Mike Carey, Jamie Delano, Stuart Moore, Fred Van Lente, Colleen Coover, Jeff Lemire, Dean Haspiel, Simon Fraser, Molly Crabapple, and many, many more. And all for a great cause! Check out the full credits list and buy via Comixology HERE. Cover by Simon Roy!

["Even Gorillas Have Pride!" preview by Stan Lee and Dean Haspiel.]

From the publisher:

PANELS FOR PRIMATES is a charity anthology of primate-themed comics, prose, and illustration, with contributions from veteran creators and talented newcomers alike, assembled by Troy Wilson. Proceeds from this anthology go to benefit the Primate Rescue Center in Nicholasville, KY, a nationally respected sanctuary housing more than 50 primates, including 11 chimpanzees. The organization’s work has been featured in the award-winning book Animal Underworld, by investigative journalist Alan Green and the Center for Public Integrity, in the magazine Animals’ Agenda (now Animals and Society Institute), on television and in newspapers nationwide.

[Spot illustration detail by Richard Case]

One thing that’s so great about Panels For Primates is how it combines comics and prose in single volumes, coupling the short stories with their own spot illustrations, which look amazing on your tablet. Anthologist Troy Wilson has done a wonderful job of curating a unique, entertaining book with an amazing agenda.

["Undercover Chimp" preview by Fred Van Lente and Colleen Coover.]

Also available is Panels For Primates Junior, featuring a cover by J. Bone! See the full contributor list and purchase HERE. Panels For Primates and Panels For Primates Junior are $9.99 and $8.99, respectively.

Sherlock Holmes and Watson travel to William Shakespeare’s era to solve The Riddle of a Thousand Faces, but Professor Moriarty springs a clever ruse, breaking Sherlock’s “time cane,” causing a “temporal storm” that sends Sherlock and Moriarty to times unknown, and Shakespeare and Watson to the present in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Now, the unorthodox partners have formed a detective agency to fight crime while trying to figure out a way to get back to their own eras.

Beacon Lights by Minneapolis cartoonist George Jurard, is a series of loosely inter-locking stories that take place over the course of 200 years.

Throughout our lives, we are perpetually in the act of pursuit. We are always seeking something in the distance— a beacon, a light, that calls us to action. But, each action has an opposite reaction, and as one person finds happiness, another can find despair.

Beacon Lightsexplores the spectrum of the human condition: the horrors we face, life’s joys, and the uncertainty that nags at us when the rug’s pulled out from under our feet. Throughout all of these things, we persist. Our beacons call to us.

Check back to Trip City every month to see George Jurard’s Beacon Lights illuminate man’s bold resilience.

NOTE: a different version of “The Future Needs You” first appeared at Studio YOLO.

“Wrecking Ball” is a song recorded by American recording artist Miley Cyrus for her fourth studio album, Bangerz (2013). It was released on August 25, 2013 by RCA Records as the second single from the album. The song was written and produced by Dr. Luke and Cirkut, with additional songwriting provided by MoZella, Stephan Moccio, and Sacha Skarbek.

lyrics

We clawed, we chained, our hearts in vain
We jumped, never asking why
We kissed, I fell under your spell
A love no one could denyDon’t you ever say I just walked away
I will always want you
I can’t live a lie, running for my life
I will always want youI came in like a wrecking ball
I never hit so hard in love
All I wanted was to break your walls
All you ever did was wreck me
Yeah, you, you wreck meI put you high up in the sky
And now, you’re not coming down
It slowly turned, you let me burn
And now, we’re ashes on the groundDon’t you ever say I just walked away
I will always want you
I can’t live a lie, running for my life
I will always want youI came in like a wrecking ball
I never hit so hard in love
All I wanted was to break your walls
All you ever did was wreck meI came in like a wrecking ball
Yeah, I just closed my eyes and swung
Left me crashing in a blazing fall
All you ever did was wreck me
Yeah, you, you wreck meI never meant to start a war
I just wanted you to let me in
And instead of using force
I guess I should’ve let you win
I never meant to start a war
I just wanted you to let me in
I guess I should’ve let you winDon’t you ever say I just walked away
I will always want youI came in like a wrecking ball
I never hit so hard in love
All I wanted was to break your walls
All you ever did was wreck meI came in like a wrecking ball
Yeah, I just closed my eyes and swung
Left me crashing in a blazing fall
All you ever did was wreck me
Yeah, you, you wreck me
Yeah, you, you wreck me

Omar Angulois an illustrator, designer and noise maker documentarian. His art is a graphic combination of mark making, music, comics, film and design. Since the 1990′s he has collaborated with artists, labels, and promoters to create album art, custom packaging for punk rock and experimental music labels, and limited edition collectible art and merchandise. Omar is perhaps best known for his punk rock album covers and his poster art for bands across the musical spectrum ranging from artists such as Against All Authority and the Misfits to Odd Future, John Waters and many others. His previous comics include: “Hurricane Wilma, (or How I Stopped Hating and Learned to Love my Neighbor)” and “Primates Everywhere” on Activatecomix.com.
He could be found drawing, making comics, posters or putting out music with his label Audio Electric
contact: omar@omarangulo.net

“SCHMUCK has a heart underneath its gritty crude input from main character Adam Kessler’s friends, a belief that love will find you in the end.”– Hannah Means Shannon, The Beat

“While SCHMUCK is packed with humorous anecdotes I feel that the relate-ability of this book is the most powerful aspect of it.” – Justin Fah, Spandexless

“…Brutal and honest.” – Brett Schenker, Graphic Policy

Whenever Seth Kushner did anything foolish growing up, his mother would call him a “Schmuck,” that beloved Yiddish term of not-so-endearment. So, of course, it’s the title of his new comix semi-autobio on TRIP CITY. Renowned for his books The Brooklynites (with Anthony LaSala) and Leaping Tall Buildings: The Origins of American Comics (With Christopher Irving) and the webseries CulturePOP Photocomix, photographer and author Seth Kushner now throws his hat into the comics arena. SCHMUCK chronicles the period after his being dumped by a girlfriend, and the ensuing cascade of blind dates, Internet hook-ups, and comically tragic situations he endured with the hopes of finding “true love.”

SCHMUCK sheds a brutally honest light on 20-something relationships. Adam Kessler, our “hero,” is based on Kushner, ten years ago – a pop-culture-obsessed photographer torn between pleasing Mom by finding a “nice Jewish girl,” and figuring out what he really wants. His internal monologue is filled with the standard inane, perverted and self-deprecating thoughts we all have but are ashamed to admit. Meanwhile, his shit-talking, sex-obsessed Brooklyn boys stand by with their own, often wacky, advice.

Chapter One “Beer, Babes and Bowel Movements,” illustrated by Kevin Colden, (with “Photocomix” by Seth) debuted on Monday, January 9 2012. From there, a new chapters have appeared regularly on TripCity.net, alternating with the release of prose pieces titled, “THE SCHMUCK DIARIES,” which act as supplements to the comics.

Sherlock Holmes and Watson travel to William Shakespeare’s era to solve The Riddle of a Thousand Faces, but Professor Moriarty springs a clever ruse, breaking Sherlock’s “time cane,” causing a “temporal storm” that sends Sherlock and Moriarty to times unknown, and Shakespeare and Watson to the present in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Now, the unorthodox partners have formed a detective agency to fight crime while trying to figure out a way to get back to their own eras.

MENUby Matthew Rosenberg & Patrick Kindlon, is the story of a boy and a dog wandering the wastelands of a future America as they try to keep each other alive in a world running out of food. Chapter Ten: Introspection in Oshkosh is drawn by Cody Pickrodt.

MENU: Born from the shared loss of the creators’ dogs, MENU follows a human and canine duo as they navigate the wastelands of a post-civilization America. Self-contained short stories, told non-chronologically, form a larger narrative about friendship and survival.

Written by Ashcan Presscollaborators, Patrick Kindlon & Matthew Rosenberg, and illustrated by the best talent in indie comics, MENU is an opportunity to tell any type of story that fits the characters and setting. Some will be dark, others cheery, and some gross.

Pulling liberally from classic post-apocalyptic literature and buddy films, all of the series’ influences are on display. MENU is a tribute to both the memory of the dogs that inspired it and to the escapist media that got the authors through their loss. “Neither of our dogs were capable of reading so far as we know,” says series co-creator Kindlon, “but this is still for them.”

Prepare yourself for camaraderie and cannibalism as Trip City brings you tales from the atomized society every month!

HANG DAI Editions was founded in Brooklyn, NY by Gregory Benton, Dean Haspiel, and Seth Kushner over their mutual dedication to comix art. The imprint focuses on limited edition comix, graphic novels, and art books, with an emphasis on personal interaction at events, conventions, and signings.

The three principals each have long histories with traditional publishing venues and have now decided to take on the challenge of publishing independently, under the HANG DAI Editions imprint, in order to retain full ownership and control over select personal creations.

The HANG DAI Editions line will debut at Comic Arts Brooklyn on November 9, 2013 with three limited edition comic books. Benton unveils his man vs. nature tale, FORCE OF NATURE, Haspiel brings forth his one-man anthology, PSYCHOTRONIC COMIX, and Kushner collects three shorts from his autobio web-series in SCHMUCK COMIX.

The three New York City based creators, who share a studio in Gowanus, Brooklyn, plan to evolve the line into self-financed and crowd funded hardcover books, and are actively seeking distributors with which to partner.

Gregory Benton has been making comix since 1993. He cut his teeth on the political anthology World War 3, moving on to writing and drawing stories for Nickelodoeon, Vertigo, DC Comics, Disney Adventures, Watson-Guptil, Entertainment Weekly, as well as contributing to numerous alternate-press comix anthologies. A graphic novel, Hummingbird, was published by Slave Labor Graphics in 1996. Gregory has also produced numerous limited-edition mini-comix. Hopefully you have some. His illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, The Village Voice and Fortune, among others. Most recently, his book B+F was awarded the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art’s inaugural Award of Excellence at MoCCAFest 2013. An expanded version of B+F has been released through Adhouse Books (USA) and Editions ça et la (France). GregoryBenton.com

Emmy award winner and Eisner Award nominee Dean Haspiel created BILLY DOGMA, and THE RED HOOK, illustrated for HBO’s “Bored To Death,” was a Master Artist at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, is a Yaddo fellow, and occasionally teaches comic book storytelling. Dino has written and drawn many superhero and semi-autobiographical comix, including collaborations with Harvey Pekar, Jonathan Ames, Inverna Lockpez, Stan Lee, and Jonathan Lethem. He’s currently collaborating with writer Mark Waid on THE FOX for Archie/Red Circle Comics. DeanHaspiel.com

Seth Kushner is an award-winning photographer and writer. His photography has appeared in The NY Times Magazine, Time, L’Uomo Vogue, Sports Illustrated, The New Yorker and more. His published books include Leaping Tall Buildings: The Origins of American Comics, (2012, co-authored with Christopher Irving) The Brooklynites (2007, co-authored with Anthony LaSala) and the recently released, self-published fumetti anthology FORCE FIELD FOTOCOMIX VOL.01. and his semi-autobio comic SCHMUCK Comix #1. Seth’s comics work can be seen at TripCity.net and for more info, visit SethKushner.com.

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed sitting at the head of a long dinner table at the mansion until I was granted a second residency at the legendary artists colony in upstate New York. It wasn’t because I demanded an audience or that the seat positioned me in a way to judge my subjects; fellow writers, artists, filmmakers and composers, like a Game of Thrones. No, I simply enjoyed my perch to survey the lay of the land and expose myself to as many different conversations as possible. I craved the psychedelic fruits a dinner table like this one would bear. Despite the works that recommended us, we were a timid yet curious bunch with a communal commitment to communicate with strangers. With the rotating nature of residencies and artists coming and going, the chances of bonding with people are rare but it happens. Every concentration of artists yields a particular brand of eccentricity and every eccentric has its encounters…

There was the buzz-headed poet from a coal mining town with a thousand yard sneer whose first grizzled words to me were “I know who…YOU…are,” while sipping from the curled straw of a carnival cup filled with vodka. Transfixed to uncover what prompted his ire, we discussed the work of mine he was familiar with and danced around the pain of a mutual pal he was at odds with. I have to admit I was energized to have been cornered by this confrontation my first night. Where most folks traded inaugural pleasantries and basked in the serene vista from the patio, I was thrown head first into the lions den. Buzz had dispensed polite jests for blunt jousts to get to the meat of matters or, more precisely, to suck out the bone marrow and spit it out. A few days later, Buzz gave a reading and his poetry was so bleak it was beautiful. The way he composed a sentence stung my soul. I found myself coping with the apocalypse of his family disasters and heartbreaks by crying while concurrently laughing like when my father took me to see a revival of William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist” when I was ten years old. Shortly thereafter, Buzz gave me an excerpt from the memoir he was writing and, upon reading it, I was artistically castrated. I nearly packed my bags and hailed a bus to I’m Not Worthyville. Like fire, the wheel, and refrigeration, Buzz was a revelation. A word warrior dispatched from the annals of the suicidal heart to warn us of the cost of love and life.

Then, there was the shirtless poet with the Greg Brady hair who wondered why I sometimes spoke about myself in second-person as “Deenie-Weenie.” I told him it was important to bring levity to most any social situation and what better way to break ice and set the tone than to make fun of myself. Plus, there was something about the swagger of my faux-bravado that made some people uncomfortable and I figured I would diffuse it by promoting a self-emasculating nickname. I proposed that vulnerability was the key to unlocking an honest discourse. When Greg Brady refused to play ping pong with me a second time because I “wasn’t good enough” for him, I felt insulted. Suddenly, honesty wasn’t my friend. The next time I sat at the dinner table he asked me why I didn’t call myself “Papa Weenie.” I asked “Why Papa? Is it because I’m sitting at the head of the table like a patriarch?” He corrected me and said, “Pop. A. Weenie. Get it?”

My writer’s room was set inside an enclosed pine porch in front of a butter pecan colored house with chocolate trim that I also slept in. My 180 degree view was mostly littered with trees that were spotted with hidden pockets of a dilapidated tennis court, the arts colony office, a blue house west of mine, and the swimming pool that a famous author kindly gifted to his future fellows. The same swimming pool I dove naked into my first night to shed shyness and make a splash. The same swimming pool I encountered an Asian poet who rubbed her leg against mine under the water and yelped, “Ew, I touched you. You’re disgusting!” I felt humiliated and publicly vowed, “I’m not going to talk to you for the entire time I’m here!” Like my scourge was supposed to banish her into the woods among the deer and ticks. It didn’t occur to me until I told a friend what happened that she might have been flirting and realized a retreat also allowed adults to regress back to elementary school when we fought basic attraction and acted like brats. There were a few residents who were polyamorous or in “open marriages” or experiencing the crisis of a romantic cross-road but I didn’t sense that coming from her. I gave her a second chance to be chums when she divulged personal stuff over lunch that humanized her and all animosity was lost. Artists are super-sensitive spirits who sometimes have a tough time with social formalities. Something I’m quite familiar with. I’ve joked that I have a special kind of social Tourette syndrome but I recognize that we are trying to make meaningful connections with our work despite public flustering. There being an ample platoon of poets spilling their guts at this particular residency, we turned our talk to poetry, which I know so little of. After I got a better sense of the medium, I suggested she curate a collection and call it “Embarrassing Humping Motions.” She laughed and declared all poetry was embarrassing humping motions.

A week later, the Asian poet gave a reading in the music room which was lined with pews and stained glass windows and looked like a church. I joked with her that I could warm up the crowd with a piano tune and she took me up on it. I don’t know how to perform anything musical but they chuckled when I mangled “Mary had a little lamb” three different ways. I challenged the composers in the music room to play their own versions. After the poet read variations of a Brother’s Grimm tale in sonnet form, one of the composers admitted that he’d been stirred by my challenge and I encouraged him to play. He tickled out a few brilliant versions of “Mary had a little lamb” and I pushed him to transition that tune into the Charlie Brown theme which he performed imperiously. After he played more flawless mash-ups of ‘Mary had a Charlie Brown,’ I prompted him to shift the mash-up into a third tune and he flexed his piano fingers with a rendition of something German and classical and fierce. We were mutually elated by the manna of improvisation.

There was a woman with black fringe bangs and cat-eyeglasses who looked like a Gothic version of Velma from Scooby Doo, who tried to woo small groups of people into live action role playing games with renditions of “Arm Sex,” where two consensual adults could sensually yet safely turn each other on. “It wasn’t really cheating,” she said. I tried to spark an arm sex threesome and recruited a charming writer from Chicago who looked like Hollywood actor Billy Zane’s test-tube baby, but he was more into the experiment than she was. Maybe it was too awkward or too humid? We were experiencing a hell of a summer heatwave accentuated by the might of a million mosquitoes, after all. Gothic Velma was a conflict of provocation and boundaries who promoted a quality control manifesto of come hither and halt. It was more frustrating than freeing. A week later, she read an excerpt from the memoir she was writing about her family history with a deadly hereditary disease and how she never thought about the future because she was told there probably wouldn’t be one, and I was crushed. Suddenly, her desire to LARP (Live Action Role Play) made sense. In my mind, she was trying to concurrently live multiple lives in the short time allegedly given to her, adding a hundred years to her compromised thirty. I’m not a religious man but I can easily slip into spirituality (thanks to the cosmic comic books of Jack Kirby) and, that night, I said a prayer for Gothic Velma that a tsunami of disease-free tomorrows would come flooding her way.

Whenever I was in a creative slump, I studied the squirrels, chipmunks, frogs, birds, hawk, geese, and groundhogs, who, as my girlfriend once identified, “look like they wear baggy pajamas,” as they scrambled and hunted for food on the green lawn mere inches from my writers window. I often saved my required lunch pail rations of cut carrots for the animals in hopes of making friends. And, when wild life failed to inspire me, I would ride a bike around the dirt trails and over to the back end of a horse race track and by the fish pond or walk over to the blue house and listen to the staccato of an old typewriter machine. There was an older author who had been coming here for 37-years and written episodes of a cult vampire soap opera in the 1960s, and now he was writing a libretto with one of the residencies composers. The ambiance of his typewriting was like an inspiring symphony of vowels tapping away at the air that made me imagine a time when the colony was a theater of competing typewriters. Fiction versus Non-fiction. Novels versus poetry. Truth versus lies, and so on. Before wireless laptop computers gave way to the the internet and spawned the time suck of social networking; where Googling your name became the birth control of creation.

One of my housemates was a Jamaican woman with gray dreadlocks who had been raised in England but eventually rejected its classism to return back to her roots in Jamaica, only to discover that she had none. We discussed the idea of home and she realized she never had one. I said to her, “Don’t they say home is where the heart is?” She politely nodded but had trouble reconciling the fact that she would be returning to a small plot of land with no electricity, no contact with the outside world, to write the rest of her second novel in long-hand form because she was no longer interested in a digitized earth. I could tell being at an artists colony was a great departure for her, as it was for me, but where I would return to my first world problems in Brooklyn, NY and catch up on a month of unpaid bills and unread comic books, she would be going back to a tent in Jamaica to dig in and grow her roots, one potato at a time.

Besides the author/poetry readings in the mansion, there were several evenings of open studios where visual artists showed their work and composers played their music. They almost always transitioned into dance parties and late night pool house shenanigans. But, rather than host a solo reading of my own, I decided to curate two impromptu salons in my living room space by assembling willing talent into sharing the stuff they were currently working on and/or read published work. There was the Nigerian with an infectious laugh who read a sad poem about the night his wife left him. There was a bearded Brazilian who could keep any object in the air for long stretches of time with the power of his feet and he read a poem about flowers and sex. There was Junior Bacchus, a Midwest poet whose right hand was a bottomless cocktail and he read ditties about flying chevrons and drinking with demigods. The pigtailed Australian cum Texan who sometimes wrote at the local coffee shop or steeped in lawn chair inspiration by the poolside, read poems about puberty and pop culture and how a particular horror movie recontextualized itself over the years. The blonde from Ohio read slaughterhouse poetry about her pedophile father and the drunks she slung drinks to. The sassy writer from Arkansas read a touching story about the rise and demise of an ex-lover and, later on, belted out a rebel yell that ricocheted around the 400-acre colony with her siren. Gothic Velma read more excerpts from her memoir including, in acute detail, the chilling medical procedure of an early1800s mastectomy that made people dizzy. Billy Zane’s charming test tube baby brought the room to a roar when he read an omnipotent story about loyalty. And, Buzz read select chapters from his memoir that gobsmacked the room. I read a few short stories about loss and the first scene from my screenplay. And, I convinced a kind composer, a maestro who generously gave me recordings of his haunting music, to reveal a funny artists colony myth to prove that just about anyone could spin a good yarn.

I don’t remember why but someone mentioned Wisconsin at the salon and it reminded me of a story my father told about our family that I never wrote down. So, I shared it. I was young and my native New York City family was invited by Wisconsin friends to their farm for a getaway weekend. It was the first time I ever saw the big blue sky from one end of my peripheral vision to the other. It was vast, all encompassing, and majestic. Born and bred in a city of skyscrapers, I’d never seen that much unexpurgated sky before. The Wisconsin family had a bespectacled son who was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a rare bone disease that basically makes it impossible for ten year old boys to throw baseballs or play hide-and-go-seek without snapping a femur or a rib or worse. Me and my brother literally walked on egg shells while trying to navigate fun with the brittle boy. The entire weekend the brittle boy kept teasing us about an amazing thing that had just arrived in town, as if it were the eighth wonder of the world, and he couldn’t wait to show us. He really sold the mystery well and I was beside myself with anticipation. Finally, the day arrives to reveal the amazing thing and our two families converge in town at a two-story tall department store. We enter the main hall and the brittle boy, so excited I was worried that he was going to break in half, points at the thing he’s been wanting to show us for days. I look. I can’t see it. I look towards my brother. He can’t see it, either. I look at my mother for counsel and she’s having trouble identifying it, too. I wanted to ask the brittle boy what I was supposed to be looking at but, instead, I looked at my father in hopes of anchoring me and he, too, was rudderless until, like a beacon of light, he saw what it was that was supposed to blow our minds and immediately pretended to be in shock and awe. I follow the train of discovery between my father’s eyes and the mysterious object and landed my own eyes upon…an escalator. A stairway machine that transports people between two floors (in case you didn’t know). I’d seen a hundred escalators back home in Manhattan. Where was the eighth wonder of the world? I stood mute and disappointed until my father began to “ooh and ahh” as he walked towards the escalator and rode it up and down with the brittle boy, relating to his joy. I learned an important lesson that day: one person’s escalator was another person’s blue sky.

My residency goal was to finish a few comic book deadlines, germinate new ideas, and revisit the feature length screenplay and novel I started writing the last time I was gifted the privilege to hide away from the world. A privilege to be among a small group of select artists blessed with a brief amount of time to develop their passions, scrutinize their work and themselves while being fed, sheltered and encouraged to create sans judgment by arts conscious patrons, dedicated organizers, and a generous staff. I thought more about home and what the Jamaican woman said about roots. And, that’s when I remembered a rap lyric by Eric B & Rakim, “It’s not where you’re from it’s where you’re at.” I was upstate at the prestigious artists colony but I’m from New York City. Who I am is what I make. I am my comic books, my essays, my unproduced screenplays, and my unfinished novel. I help rally small tribes of artists to sit together and share something unique whether it’s at a retreat in the mountains, online, or in a shared art studio in Brooklyn. I am the bashful jerk who jumps naked into the deep end of a pool to make new friends while making fun of myself so we can make fun of ourselves yet not be afraid to artistically express something meaningful and honest. And, that is my home. Wherever I am.

Nick Bertozzi is the Harvey Award and Ignatz Award-winning author of LEWIS & CLARK (First Second) and THE SALON (St Martin’s Press), a graphic novel about Picasso and magical absinthe, and the upcoming SHACKLETON (First Second). He has collaborated with Jason Lutes on the cartoon-biography HOUDINI: THE HANDCUFF KING (Hyperion), and with Boaz Yakin on JERUSALEM: A Family Portrait (First Second) all of which have been published in other languages. He managed a comic shop, worked at DC Comics for a few years, and has been teaching cartooning at NYC’s School of Visual Arts for a decade. He lives in NYC with his wife and daughters.nickbertozzi.com

“SCHMUCK has a heart underneath its gritty crude input from main character Adam Kessler’s friends, a belief that love will find you in the end.”– Hannah Means Shannon, The Beat

“While SCHMUCK is packed with humorous anecdotes I feel that the relate-ability of this book is the most powerful aspect of it.” – Justin Fah, Spandexless

“…Brutal and honest.” – Brett Schenker, Graphic Policy

Whenever Seth Kushner did anything foolish growing up, his mother would call him a “Schmuck,” that beloved Yiddish term of not-so-endearment. So, of course, it’s the title of his new comix semi-autobio on TRIP CITY. Renowned for his books The Brooklynites (with Anthony LaSala) and Leaping Tall Buildings: The Origins of American Comics (With Christopher Irving) and the webseries CulturePOP Photocomix, photographer and author Seth Kushner now throws his hat into the comics arena. SCHMUCK chronicles the period after his being dumped by a girlfriend, and the ensuing cascade of blind dates, Internet hook-ups, and comically tragic situations he endured with the hopes of finding “true love.”

SCHMUCK sheds a brutally honest light on 20-something relationships. Adam Kessler, our “hero,” is based on Kushner, ten years ago – a pop-culture-obsessed photographer torn between pleasing Mom by finding a “nice Jewish girl,” and figuring out what he really wants. His internal monologue is filled with the standard inane, perverted and self-deprecating thoughts we all have but are ashamed to admit. Meanwhile, his shit-talking, sex-obsessed Brooklyn boys stand by with their own, often wacky, advice.

Chapter One “Beer, Babes and Bowel Movements,” illustrated by Kevin Colden, (with “Photocomix” by Seth) debuted on Monday, January 9 2012. From there, a new chapters have appeared regularly on TripCity.net, alternating with the release of prose pieces titled, “THE SCHMUCK DIARIES,” which act as supplements to the comics.

Sherlock Holmes and Watson travel to William Shakespeare’s era to solve The Riddle of a Thousand Faces, but Professor Moriarty springs a clever ruse, breaking Sherlock’s “time cane,” causing a “temporal storm” that sends Sherlock and Moriarty to times unknown, and Shakespeare and Watson to the present in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Now, the unorthodox partners have formed a detective agency to fight crime while trying to figure out a way to get back to their own eras.

Nathan Schreiber left the fashion industry in 2008 to focus on comics full time. His comic Power Out won a 2009 Xeric award and has been nominated for an Eisner and multiple Harvey awards. In 2012 he illustrated the New York Time’s bestseller Health Care Reform: What It Is, Why It’s Necessary, and How It Works and wrote and illustrated the science fiction comic 4090 for independent publisher Retrofit. His comics have appeared in L’Uomo Vogue, Overflow, Smith Magazine, and ACT-IVATE.com. He’s completed two residencies in Angoulême, France, at the Maison des Auteurs. He is currently living in Brooklyn working on Science Ninjas, an action-comedy-romance packed comic designed to provide a comprehensive elementary science education. www.nathanschreiber.com

“SCHMUCK has a heart underneath its gritty crude input from main character Adam Kessler’s friends, a belief that love will find you in the end.”– Hannah Means Shannon, The Beat

“While SCHMUCK is packed with humorous anecdotes I feel that the relate-ability of this book is the most powerful aspect of it.” – Justin Fah, Spandexless

“…Brutal and honest.” – Brett Schenker, Graphic Policy

Whenever Seth Kushner did anything foolish growing up, his mother would call him a “Schmuck,” that beloved Yiddish term of not-so-endearment. So, of course, it’s the title of his new comix semi-autobio on TRIP CITY, an online multimedia arts salon. Renowned for his books The Brooklynites (with Anthony LaSala) and Leaping Tall Buildings: The Origins of American Comics (With Christopher Irving) and the webseries CulturePOP Photocomix, photographer and author Seth Kushner now throws his hat into the comics arena. SCHMUCK chronicles the period after his being dumped by a girlfriend, and the ensuing cascade of blind dates, Internet hook-ups, and comically tragic situations he endured with the hopes of finding “true love.”

SCHMUCK sheds a brutally honest light on 20-something relationships. Adam Kessler, our “hero,” is based on Kushner, ten years ago – a pop-culture-obsessed photographer torn between pleasing Mom by finding a “nice Jewish girl,” and figuring out what he really wants. His internal monologue is filled with the standard inane, perverted and self-deprecating thoughts we all have but are ashamed to admit. Meanwhile, his shit-talking, sex-obsessed Brooklyn boys stand by with their own, often wacky, advice.

Chapter One “Beer, Babes and Bowel Movements,” illustrated by Kevin Colden, (with “Photocomix” by Seth) debuted on Monday, January 9 2012. From there, a new chapters have appeared regularly on TripCity.net, alternating with the release of prose pieces titled, “THE SCHMUCK DIARIES,” which act as supplements to the comics.

I looked down at the busy New York City street. The honking horns below and the chattering voices nearby faded as I focused on the endless road in front of me. Suddenly stranded in contemplation of circumstance and possibility, his presence redirected my thoughts. After a brief introduction, we walked to a quiet spot surrounded by trees and buildings under construction. As we sat down, he began to tell me about his path to success.

As a poet, music found him. Gaining notoriety in the early 90s through the national slam poetry circuit, he eventually performed on the MTV Spoken Word Tour, and in 1994, at Lollapalooza, alongside the Smashing Pumpkins, A Tribe Called Quest, and Beastie Boys. Realizing the limitations poetry had to offer, and as a product of the hip-hop generation, he invested the money he made from his performances on studio equipment. He went on to produce a variety of artists including Mos Def and Common.

Pursing his own career in music, he released an EP under his previous moniker, Mastermind, called “The Adventures of The Mastermind” in 1996 on his own label. Successfully packaging and marketing his music without the help of others made an impression on A&R exec Gordon “The Commissioner” Williams at Columbia Records. He was offered a position working at the esteemed label and has now progressed into a music consultant specializing in music licensing and brand development. Working behind the scenes, he discovered that he could satisfy his creativity by assisting artists develop their visions. After a decades long hiatus, he released #ATOM 12.12.12 as D Prosper.

His main focus now is working with Salaam Remi, who most notably produced Amy Winehouse and Nas, on a group he recently signed to Sony called Hiatus Kaiyote. As the band works on their second LP, he is marketing them as well as scheduling television appearances on the Arsenio Hall and Jimmy Fallon shows for late October. While keeping busy with this, he somehow finds the time to continue working on his own projects. He is currently working with VICE on a project called “Monsanity”. The parody piece on Monsanto, a publicly traded American multinational chemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation, will feature Monsanta Claus who will use imperialism and genetically modified food as his weapons. Along with this, he is releasing a 15 minute song with famed producer and rapper Flying Lotus called “#ATOM Echoes of Truth”. Terrance Nance will be directing a short film based on the song called “They’re gonna charge us for the sun” in which a corporation charges for minutes of sun usage and how the majority of society operates at night. Another project includes an animated video for the Lotus produced song off #ATOM 12.12.12 called “Elephant Ride”. Presently in production of this video, his animation team was waiting for him as we finished talking.

As I packed my things and left him to his meeting, I attempted to digest all of his accomplishments. Consuming the chronicles of his traveling down a unique road, it was difficult to not reflect on my own route. Walking to the subway, I found my thoughts searching my memory for an appropriate summation of my thinking:

“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail…” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Jessica Glick is a photographer, writer, and music lover. She developed an interest in photography while working at various Lower East Side music venues. Jessica started photographing local musician and has now expanded her work to include fine art and fashion. In addition to photography, Jessica has been writing since she was a child. Attempting to combine her writings with her photo work, she created an ongoing portrait/story series called VAGABOND.

Sherlock Holmes and Watson travel to William Shakespeare’s era to solve The Riddle of a Thousand Faces, but Professor Moriarty springs a clever ruse, breaking Sherlock’s “time cane,” causing a “temporal storm” that sends Sherlock and Moriarty to times unknown, and Shakespeare and Watson to the present in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Now, the unorthodox partners have formed a detective agency to fight crime while trying to figure out a way to get back to their own eras.

MENUby Matthew Rosenberg & Patrick Kindlon, is the story of a boy and a dog wandering the wastelands of a future America as they try to keep each other alive in a world running out of food. Chapter Nine: Ennui in Ojai is drawn by Ben Sears.

MENU: Born from the shared loss of the creators’ dogs, MENU follows a human and canine duo as they navigate the wastelands of a post-civilization America. Self-contained short stories, told non-chronologically, form a larger narrative about friendship and survival.

Written by Ashcan Presscollaborators, Patrick Kindlon & Matthew Rosenberg, and illustrated by the best talent in indie comics, MENU is an opportunity to tell any type of story that fits the characters and setting. Some will be dark, others cheery, and some gross.

Pulling liberally from classic post-apocalyptic literature and buddy films, all of the series’ influences are on display. MENU is a tribute to both the memory of the dogs that inspired it and to the escapist media that got the authors through their loss. “Neither of our dogs were capable of reading so far as we know,” says series co-creator Kindlon, “but this is still for them.”

Prepare yourself for camaraderie and cannibalism as Trip City brings you tales from the atomized society every month!

Sherlock Holmes and Watson travel to William Shakespeare’s era to solve The Riddle of a Thousand Faces, but Professor Moriarty springs a clever ruse, breaking Sherlock’s “time cane,” causing a “temporal storm” that sends Sherlock and Moriarty to times unknown, and Shakespeare and Watson to the present in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Now, the unorthodox partners have formed a detective agency to fight crime while trying to figure out a way to get back to their own eras.

Cinema and comics share images as a vehicle of storytelling. So it seemed natural to present “An Evening with Dean Haspiel”, one of the foremost graphic storytellers of our time, at the Cinema Arts Centre, last Fall (October 4th, 2012). Hosted by Matthew Berkowitz, founder of Rough Hewn Productions and long-time friend of Dean’s, the event offers an entertaining exploration of Haspiels’s career: from his indie beginnings to his current pioneering work in web comics. Featuring readings from some of his stories, as well as his astute observations about the state of comics today, “An Evening With Dean Haspiel” is an intriguing look into the mind of a cutting-edge artist as well as an inspiring master-class in visual storytelling.–Matt Berkowitz, filmmaker

Beacon Lights by Minneapolis cartoonist George Jurard, is a series of loosely inter-locking stories that take place over the course of 200 years.

Throughout our lives, we are perpetually in the act of pursuit. We are always seeking something in the distance— a beacon, a light, that calls us to action. But, each action has an opposite reaction, and as one person finds happiness, another can find despair.

Beacon Lightsexplores the spectrum of the human condition: the horrors we face, life’s joys, and the uncertainty that nags at us when the rug’s pulled out from under our feet. Throughout all of these things, we persist. Our beacons call to us.

Check back to Trip City every month to see George Jurard’s Beacon Lights illuminate man’s bold resilience.

NOTE: a different version of “The Future Needs You” first appeared at Studio YOLO.

The Adventures of Shakespeare & Watson Detectives of Mystery pairs William Shakespeare and Doctor John Watson as time traveling detectives. Sherlock Holmes and Watson travel to William Shakespeare’s era to solve “The Riddle of a Thousand Faces,” but Professor Moriarty springs a clever ruse, breaking Sherlock’s “time cane,” causing a “temporal storm” that sends Sherlock and Moriarty to times unknown, and Shakespeare and Watson to the present. Together, the unorthodox partners form a detective agency in Williamsburg Brooklyn and team up to fight crime while trying to figure out a way to get back to their own eras.

Shakespeare & Watson is a collaboration between Nicky Dog Pictures,PanopticonNYC, and Spygirl Pictures, starring David Blatt as a William Shakespeare, Chris Miskiewicz (Bored to Death/White Collar) as Doctor John Watson, Award-winning British graphic novelist Nick Abadzis as Sherlock Holmes, and rock & roll drumming legend Ozzie Martinez as the loveable Cracky. Directed by Christopher Piazza. Written by Chris Miskiewicz & Christopher Piazza. Edited by Kathleen Green.

I waited for him at the corner of Bowery and East Houston. As he sauntered towards me, I momentarily returned to the night we first met. It was only a few weeks prior that I found myself on the roof deck of a ship sailing through the Hudson River. Clearly enamored by the view of New York City, I found him sitting alone and smoking a cigarette. I joined him and we began discussing music.

Listening to his father play soul, funk, and jazz albums, the Long Island native discovered his love of music early on. He began mixing records and using samples from his father’s collection. Although he connected with jazz, the musical climate at the time led him in another direction; rap.

In the late 80s, he became a member of the hip-hop crew, Leaders of the New School. Along with Busta Rhymes, Charlie Brown, and Cut Monitor Milo, the group rose to fame after opening for Public Enemy. A guest appearance in A Tribe Called Quest’s hit song “Scenario” and two albums later, the group went their separate ways.

Over the years, he continued to create. Recently, he returned from the Hip Hop Gods Tour, where he performed his single “Dinc Da Dinc Dinc”, which led to the release of his mix tape. Now, he’s working on his solo album with contributors like Jarobi White from A Tribe Called Quest, Charlie Brown, and others. Although there will be elements in his new work that recall his formative years, he continues to evolve with the New York hip-hop scene.

We parted ways at the corner of Stanton and Allen St. I headed towards a nearby coffee shop on Ludlow. As I walked, I remembered how he said he lived in Atlanta and Connecticut, but no place compared to New York. I once again recalled our first meeting, and the pink and gold sunset over the city that had left an impression on me, reminding me of why this is home…

Jessica Glick is a photographer, writer, and music lover. She developed an interest in photography while working at various Lower East Side music venues. Jessica started photographing local musician and has now expanded her work to include fine art and fashion. In addition to photography, Jessica has been writing since she was a child. Attempting to combine her writings with her photo work, she created an ongoing portrait/story series called VAGABOND.

MENUby Matthew Rosenberg & Patrick Kindlon, is the story of a boy and a dog wandering the wastelands of a future America as they try to keep each other alive in a world running out of food. Chapter Eight: Lunatics of Los Angeles is drawn by Josh Gowdy.

MENU: Born from the shared loss of the creators’ dogs, MENU follows a human and canine duo as they navigate the wastelands of a post-civilization America. Self-contained short stories, told non-chronologically, form a larger narrative about friendship and survival.

Written by Ashcan Presscollaborators, Patrick Kindlon & Matthew Rosenberg, and illustrated by the best talent in indie comics, MENU is an opportunity to tell any type of story that fits the characters and setting. Some will be dark, others cheery, and some gross.

Pulling liberally from classic post-apocalyptic literature and buddy films, all of the series’ influences are on display. MENU is a tribute to both the memory of the dogs that inspired it and to the escapist media that got the authors through their loss. “Neither of our dogs were capable of reading so far as we know,” says series co-creator Kindlon, “but this is still for them.”

Prepare yourself for camaraderie and cannibalism as Trip City brings you tales from the atomized society every month!

Dean Haspiel and Seth Kushner will be at Baltimore Comic-Con on Sat & Sun, Sept. 7-8 at the Baltimore Convention Center. They’ll be tabling with cartoonists Reilly Brown and Christa Cassano at table 2207. Come on by and get our new comix!

Additionally, Dean Haspiel will be appearing on the following panel:

Saturday, September 74:00-5:00 – The World of ArchieWant to know what’s up with Archie and the gang? Interested in exciting heroes like The Fox? Can’t get enough of Sonic? Then this is the panel for you! Moderated by Archie/Red Circle Comics editor Paul Kaminski, featuring Mark Waid, J.M. DeMatteis, and Dean Haspiel, among others.